PENROSE FARM

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 18, 16 October 1930, Page 10

PENROSE FARM

Proposed New School ELIGIBLE BOYS Department’s Intentions Everything is now in readiness for the opening of the Penrose Farm School, and within a few ' days applications for enrolment will be invited by the Education Department. Provision will be made for twenty-five boys in residence, who will be expected to stay at the school from eighteen months to two years in order that a full year of tanning operations may be well covered. At a meeting of the Wellington Education Board yesterday, Mr. A. Donald said he understood that preference would be given to boys who had two or three Yoars post-primarv education. He ventured the opinion that boys who had passed the sixth standard with distinction might Drove more satisfactory students for an institution iike Penrose. Once a boy had two or three years at high school he got out of touch with the land, and there was a tendency for him to develop into a coat-and-collar man and to lose interest in farm life. Mr. W. H. Jackson said _ the big obstacle to the successful establishment of the school, as he saw it, was the provision that pupils should have two or three years’ secondary education.. There were many farmers, particularly in these times, who could not afford to send their sons to high school. Were those, boys to be deprived of the valuable training Penrose offered? “I mean that we should consider the boy who had only passed the sixth standard as well as the one who has secondary edpeation,” said Mr. Jackson. Merits Alone. Mr. Donald said there were many prim-ary-school boys whose parents could not afford to send them to high school but who, nevertheless, were deserving of consideration. The matter might be left in the hands of the inspectors. Mr. Blake said ’it was quite conceivable that boys who had only a proficiency certificate might make eminently more satisfactory students than those who had passed through a high school. The chairman, Mr. T. Forsyth, said he had no doubt the department would take the question into consideration when selecting pupils. To a “Dominion” representative an officer of the department stated yesterday afternoon that in selecting entrants preference would be given as follows: — (1) To sons of soldiers who have completed a two-years’ course of secondary education, including instruction in agricultural science. (2) To sons of soldiers who have attained the age of fourteen years. (3) To other boys who have completed a two-years’ course of secondary education, including instruction in agricultural science. (4) To other boys who have attained the age of 14 years and who enrol within six months of having left school. • . Bovs from private schools will be eligible on the same conditions as boys from public primary or secondary schools. Farm and Staff. Tlie farm consists of 736 acres of land, within eight miles of Masterton, managed by a board of trustees under the Department of Agriculture. The present buildings include the necessary farm buildings, besides some hostel accommodation, including quarters for staff, kitchen, dining-room, bathrooms, etc., recreation room and dormitory space for about 25 persons. . . The buildings were provided originally for the training of returned soldiers who wished to go on the land, and, after they had served that purpose, for the training of boys for agricultural and pastoral pursuits, with preference to the sons of soldiers. . ..... ~ In order to bring the institution up to date and make it suitable for the instruction of the boys, a substantial grant has been approved, out of which will be provided a combined science laboratory and classroom, quarters for the housemaster in charge of the hostel, electric lighting and power installation connected witli the Power Board’s mains, beside repairs and additions. Provision will )>e made for 2u boys in residence (beside visiting classes from secondary, technical and district high schools) and the following staff will be employed : For working the farm a farm manager and assistants, under 'he control of the trustees, and naid out. of the revenue of the farm. For running the hostel and instructing the boys: (J) An agricultural science instructor, who will act as housemaster and who will pe an officer of the Education Department. (2) A matron or working housekeeper. a cook and a housemaid-laundress. For the salaries of this staff the Education Department will be responsible. On Commercial Lines. “It will be seen,” states the department. “that the institution will be properly staffed as a hoarding school, as well as properly staffed ns a farm, and the bovs will therefore be well cared for while the instruction in farm which they will receive for about half the time will be under the farm staff on a farm run on sound commercial lines. Both sheep and dairy farming will probably be included. Approximately half the time will be spent by the bovs in class work. laboratory work and field experiments and obsen ation under the housemaster, besides which some training will be given in farm carpentry. saddlery, etc., as occasion may al The bovs will pay a fee for board and lodging of £36 a year, payable in instalments of nt thl> b( w nn, 7 ? f T quarter. There will be no. fee for tuition Holhlnvs will be given to the bovs at such times ns. are found convenient. due regard " Vfirm proper administration of the farm.